The walk there wasn't terrible for people in the prime of their lives, in fact it was rather pleasant. Bright skies, rather nice rocky facades and ravenous vistas. If only the looming dread of the future wasn't so prevalent in the group's mind, they might have enjoyed the hike. But the urgency that spurred them left little comfort for such views. The quarry was pretty easy to find, as most roads that led deeper into the range ended there. It was a massive layered crater, terraced layer on top of layer on top of layer stacked deeper and deeper, with each layer containing at least a dozen holes of which quality stone was extracted from.
Dr. Cortez looked over the quarry. "Alright gang, split into groups of two and do some exploring. You have an hour or so, and then we'll meet back up here." he was met with a series of nods as everyone broke up into pairs. Sun naturally lumped onto Neptune, and Scarlet ended up meandering towards Sage. Bolin moved to grab Arslan, but Reese was both faster and closer, and she latched onto her before the blue monk could make it. Grumbling, he turned to stomp toward Nadir. Nadir didn't notice, as he was busy looking at a rock.
Arslan and Reese peered at the darkness in front of them. Several tunnels weaved in and out of this particular auxiliary port, and Arslan suspected that such was true for the entirety of the quarry.
"Soo, someone was notably absent this morning." Reese coo'ed at her, looking a little to much like the cat that caught the canary. Which was not fair, because if anything Arslan should have been the catlike one.
Arslan blinked at her. "The room was a little crowded. We had that injured huntsman in our room." The lioness explained to her teammate. "And besides, he snores. It was making it hard to go to sleep."
Reese nodded, understanding. "Right. So where did you end up sleeping?" she asked her leader. Arslan looked away, suddenly interested in the floor. Reese's gaze intensified, gears turning away furiously in her head. "Arslan… where did you sleep last night?"
"You can't tease me about it." The lioness retorted instantly. Reese made a rolling motion with her hand for Arslan to continue, very excited for what Arslan would say next. "I slept in Jaune's room last night."
"yoU SLEPT WITH JAUNE?!" Reese yelled. Arslan recoiled, covering her ears from the echo. Arslan winced, covering her more sensitive ears.
"Yell a little louder, wouldn't you? I don't think they heard you all the way in Atlas." the blonde woman grumbled, rubbing her ear. "And no, I did not sleep with him. I'm not a- ok, technically I slept with him, but not like that!" She defended herself as best she could. "I just spent the night there."
Reese gave Arslan an unimpressed look. "And here I thought you had finally gotten laid." She said wistfully. "But seriously, I'm happy for you. Little sad you're into boys, but I thought you were something like asex for the longest time." She extended the word longest, emphasizing the particular section of sentence. Arslan gave her a squinted look.
"Really?"
"Yeah." Reese nodded. "I mean, you were always so focused on School and your bible studies and never made time for, you know, relationships."
Arslan rolled her eyes. "Looking for a relationship not being a priority is different from not wanting one, Reese." She sighed, hopping down a small drop. "Speaking of which, when's your next date? You were going out with that Tyrn girl, right?"
The skater's face soured. "Nah, we broke that off." She said, hopping down with Arslan. "We had… Philosophical differences." Arslan didn't know what that pause ment, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to know. There was a bout of silence as they inspected the caves.
"What do you think about our chances here, Ars?" Reese asked the smarter of the two. Not a necessarily true statement, there was a reason Reese took Dust Chem and Arslan pointedly did not, but there is also a reason that team ARBN was ARBN and not RBAN. That would make a great punk rock group. Reese thought as she picked over the stones.
Arslan shrugged. "As in actually defendable?" She asked rhetorically. She knew what Reese ment. "I don't know. We've only made it a couple meters in, and I already feel lost." The two turned back almost an hour later, having wound and wove their way through the carved tunnels of the quarry. Arslan blinked as she entered the sunlight, her eyes taking a moment more to adjust from the underdark.
"Are… are we in a different cave?" The lioness asked, looking around. It seemed like a different cave than the two of them had entered. Reese scratched her head, joining her partner in her head turning.
"I… yeah, it is a different cave. We must have gotten turned around somewhere back there." the skater said. Arslan hummed, starting the march up to the top of the quarry.
"How do you know if you are in love?" The question was sudden, a little out of left field. Reese looked at her leader.
"Arslan, are you sure you're talking to the right person? Cause I have a list of broken hearts a mile long." Crossing her heart, she gave Arslan a crooked smile. "But seriously? Jaune?"
"What's wrong with Jaune?" Arslan defended her friend. Reese gave her leader a look as though she had said the world was flat.
"You want me to list the ways? I mean, don't get me wrong, he's a half decent human at least, but you can one hundred percent do better than the extra lanky french fry."
Arslan shook her head, her chest bouncing with a chortle. "He's not that bad." Turning to look at her partner, she repropositioned her question. "But how do you know if you are in love? What does it feel like?"
Reese's eyebrow could not physically climb any higher, but if it could, it would have raised itself several inches. "You… you don't know what love feels like? What have they been teaching you in that monk school of yours?" She asked incredulously. "Seriously, did they not have children's fantasy books there?"
"Is that what those are for?" The lioness asked. "I never knew." Reese gave her a shaky hand, indicating her unsurety in the statement.
"Love is… complicated. It's like a fight- you know, adrenaline, excitement, the dilated and and whole beating heart thing. It makes you do impulsive, stupid things and makes your ears flush red. It's, you know, stupid. It makes you stupid too." Reese was staring wistfully ahead of her, remembering her own long list of early crushes and conquests. "Does that help you? Do you think you're in love with jaune?"
Arslan gave the question a moment, replaying in her head all the times she had spent with Jaune. The kitchen table, Her team's first mission, moments in the library and the Cafeteria, last night. She pondered over them for a moment. Sure, she thought Jaune was attractive once or twice, but knowing that love and lust were two very different things made Arslan overtly aware of her feelings on the two.
"No, I don't think I am."
"Well, that answers that, doesn't it?"
Dr. Sebastian Cortez was not having a good time. He was sitting with the priest, discussing the current situation.
"Are you sure that the caves won't be suitable?" he asked, fretting. Dr. Cortez sighed, clearly having gone over this particular issue several times.
"Yes. My students have come to a decision, and I agree with them. The Quarry has too many entry points for us to defend, and are too interconnected to properly isolate." he swirled his amber filled tumbler, offering a sip to the priest. The priest took it, sipping at the liquor.
"Now, is there no other place we can safely put everyone?" The teacher asked. The priest hung his head, looking at the ground.
"No. We can barely fit everyone in here as it is for communion!" He wailed. Sebastian blinked.
"Barely fit?" The huntsman asked. The priest nodded, gesturing to the multiple pews.
"We're packed full almost every week. Gods be blessed, we've got people standing in the back and sides most days!"
"But you can fit everyone." Dr. Cortez was a patient man. At least, he thought he was being rather patient, as he was anything but a patient man. He was rather impulsive for people in his field, as anyone more headlong was weeded out rather quickly out of the academies. But this? This tested his patience. "You mean to tell me we could have fit everyone in here? In the middle of town? Away from the grimm's pathing?"
The priest was painfully quiet for a moment. "It would be too crowded, and the panic would draw the monsters in."
Sebastian sighed, taking back his alcohol. "We're going to deal with the panic either way." He sighed, rubbing his temple. May whatever god up there save me from Buffoons. He thought to himself, downing the rest of his liquor. "And this might be the best thing for us. The fact that it is a familiar and peaceful place might help with that panic you mentioned."
The priest sighed, looking around. "Should I start removing pews, or?"
Jaune was less than enthused when he was told that he was being put on "Fortification duty". He knew that it was necessary, and very much vital, but when one had Sun Wukong and his army of on demand free labor on hand, it made menial work feel a little pointless. Jaune watched as a conga line of yellow holo-luminescent humanoids passed pews down the line. He then looked down at the single pew under his arm, then back at the factory line of bench movement.
"On your left!" Scarlett called behind Jaune. Sidestepping, he watched as the pirate and his sea themed friend passed.
"How you holding up man?" Neptune asked as he waddled his way by. Jaune marched in time with them, stacking the pew with the others. The question was answered with a light shrug.
"It is what it is?" Scarlet asked, before answering it for himself. "Yeah, I feel that. This whole thing has been kind of a mess, hasn't it?"
It was answered with another shrug. Scarlett and Neptune gave eachother an exasperated look. Of course Jaune would be unfazed by this. It seemed to convey. "Surely this is the biggest bag of shit you've been in, right?" Neptune asked. When it came to bad situations, this surely took the cake. Maniac serial killers, mass grimm migrations, having students punching above their weight class? Neptune was under the impression that they were kind of fucked.
Jaune was about to say something when Sun called from the back of the main cathedral. "I wouldn't bet money on it!" The ranger proceeded to ignore him.
"I have done some… interesting things in my time. Frankly, Grimm seem rather tame at the moment, but I don't know. I haven't seen the size of the horde yet."
Scarlett hung his head. "Does nothing phase you?" He asked the ranger. Jaune just hook his head.
"Where are the girls?" He asked, looking around. He did not see that yellow blur he often sought when looking for her. Them. It appeared to only be team SSSN and himself working within the church. It was Dr. Cortez who answered him.
"They are out delivering the emergency plan to the good common folk with Brother whatshisface." The doctor informed his student. "Good job with the benches by the way. Sun, you're done for the moment, go ahead and take ten. Excellent Aura work." Sun smiled as he slumped over, collapsing into one of the moved pews. The clones disappeared soon after, leaving the room much less cramped.
"What about the rest of us?" Scarlett asked Dr. Cortez.
His answer should have been expected. "There's still work to do. Mush!"
It would be late in the evening, boarding well on into the night by the time Jaune was done with the fortification work. Team SSSN had called it quits after dinner, naturally. They and, after team ABRN joined them, did their fair share of work. Between all of them, a reinforcement the the chapel gate, the outer walls of the village, and several other small hard labor tasks were completed. Jaune had been out working on setting up some outer probes. He was just setting up the closest probe when someone came looking for him.
"I was wondering where you were." Jaune turned to look at who spoke.
"Arslan." He greeted the lioness. "I am surprised to see you out this late."
Why is she here? B was talking, looking up from his mini mind model of the town. Did she seriously come to check on us?
She hummed. "I would say that I am surprised to see you out here this late, but I really am not." Appraising the rangers handiwork, she had no actual idea on whether or not it would either actually work or was done correctly. "It is time to head to the inn, Jaune. It's almost dark." Although that wouldn't matter for either of us… She thought. It had taken most of arguing quietly in feral with Sun to convince him that Jaune was a faunus. Or at least a faunus, as the much more insane theory was that he was, indeed, a god of some form and variety. Maybe he was a god of headaches? That seemed to check out. Arslan watched as he finished doing whatever the process was required to turn on the probe.
"So, you're here to drag me back to bed?" The ranger asked her. She shrugged. The two started their path back. Arslan scrolled through her scroll, the bright light shining against her face. Jaune watched her fluorescent green eyes scan over whatever document was on her screen.
"What are you reading?"
"The news." She responded. "Apparently there was a close call in Vale recently."
That caught Jaunes attention. "Oh, really?" he peered over Arslan's shoulder to look at the headline. "I normally think of Vale being pretty safe, all things considered."
The lioness hummed, reading the article. "Yeah, well apparently The White Fang-" She let out an involuntary groan at the name. "Blew up the old tunnels that led from Mount Glenn to Vale, and unleashed some grimm in the city." Sensing the panic that it stirred in her friend, she quickly continued. "It was quickly handled by Huntsmen in the city. Harm was kept to a minimum."
"Well, that's good. Where are you reading it?"
Arslan just handed him her scroll, letting him read the story for himself. He was about half way through when Arslan heard his breath catch for a moment. She glanced at him, worried that he might have another emotional breakdown. He didn't, instead finishing the article with extreme focus.
"Someone you recognize?" Arslan asked as she pocketed her scroll. He nodded.
"One of the response teams. Team RWBY. I am…" Jaune trailed off, looking into the horizon dead ahead.
I want to say that I am happy to see news about their success, but I really, I can't. He mulled to himself. He ruminated on the feeling that settled in the bottom of his chest. A kind of stone that sat at the bottom of a lake, cold and sinking, pulling on the hot air that rose to the top. An uncomfortable kind of strain as the sweet memories Jaune claimed were bittered with his own growth. It wasn't hot and angry, nor elated and blissful. A had expected the feeling to be like a rubber band taped to a cinder block. Once dropped, it would stretch and strain before snapping in an instant. B had expected a shriveling effect, like a thorn bush closing in on itself during winter to protect it from the killing snow. A crustacean returning to its conical shell, a flower in reverse. Neither happened. Instead, a stone sunk, and a cloud flew. And Jaune came to his decision.
"I knew them, back at Beacon." He continued. "I am glad to see that such effective huntsmen remain in humanity's hands."
Arslan gave Jaune a look somewhere in between disbelief and skepticism, without the scorching degree of judgement. It was another piece of the puzzle box that Arslan wished she could take out her head and throw at Nadir. That response was measured, cursedly counted and carefully crafted. A completely neutral response. Like a robot, so utterly unhuman. So incredibly like… like chess, he supposed. It's like he's talking about a chess match. "At least Korshkerr still has his horses." Korshkerr Vs Lienchmahur, 1976 was the only chess match Arslan knew well enough to quote or barely explain. A basic grasp for a basic metaphor. Fitting, she supposed.
"I don't believe you." Arslan said, looking into that thousand yard distance Jaune was watching. The ranger only hummed in agreement, a sage kind of humm that started low before raising up. It slowed, cresting into a low vibration until it was drowned by the need to breathe. The two didn't say anything else until they had settled into bed.
"Good night."
There is so much I wish you would tell me.
"Good night."
There is so much I wish you would tell me.
Another chapter is done! Ah, the inglory of being a huntsman. It's not adrenaline and gore all the time! If you couldn't tell, I've been binging wes anderson recently, and I fear that it might show. So that's my excuse if anything feels oddly pastel, so to speak.
I was really glad I got to put Arslan and Reese's conversation in here. I think that it is good character exploration or growth for both of them. I enjoy trying to make characters that are as human as possible, and that conversation felt just right to me.
Normally, next chapter would take Jaune to the dream, but It will probably be skipped for the most part. So sorry for everyone super stoked for a dream sequence of Jaune getting bodied again, but there are more pressing matters for everyones favorite plotline punching bag.